He was sentenced to 30 years in prison without the possibility of parole. He must also register as a sex offender.

Garza was arrested in May 2016 at the town's volunteer fire station after the parents of the girl reported him. Following his arrest, Garza was terminated from his position with volunteer fire department. He served as chief for about three years.

According to his indictment, Garza sexually abused the girl multiple times between January 2016 and the end of April 2016.

Prosecutor Kathy Mills shared a written statement from the victim following his guilty plea.

"For starters, I'm glad you finally admitted what you did," she said. "It wasn't so hard to stand up, instead of putting me through all of this, knowing you knew the truth but you would never speak the truth."

Garza looked down as she read the teen's words.

"I won't let you control me and my way of looking at the world anymore," she continued. "Now I can go on with my life. What you did wasn't right, taking advantage of me when you knew I was alone in this messed up world. Now you're going away for good and I have some type of closure, and now I will not lose sleep over this."

He was remanded into Nueces County jail custody, pending transfer to prison.